Integrally bladed rotors (IBR's), also commonly known as “bladed discs”, are important parts of gas turbine engines. An IBR generally has a disc with an array of blades affixed thereto. The blades extend radially outwardly and are circumferentially spaced apart. The airfoil surfaces of each blade define a complex geometry to provide the desired aerodynamics. IBR's are used in gas turbine engines as compressor rotors or turbine rotors which rotate at high speeds during engine operation and therefore need to be accurately balanced to avoid generating vibration forces. However, fabricating IBR's is a challenging task and a centre of gravity of a fabricated IBR sometimes is not within an acceptable limit with respect to the rotating axis of the engine. Therefore, post-fabrication balancing activities are usually necessary for fabricated IBR's to ensure the IBR's rotate smoothly when installed in gas turbine engines. Nevertheless, the post-fabrication balancing activities of IBR's may be time consuming, causing increases to the cost of manufacturing gas turbine engines.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide an improved method of fabricating IBR's to reduce post-fabrication balancing activities of IBR's.